wharfhouse

I believe that the Essential Services (major and minor annual services) have been discontinued but the Essential Maintence (such as brake discs and shock absorbers) for cars over 5 years old is still in place. Haven't had an opportunity to confrm this recently though as last parts I had fitted were front discs / pads a few years ago which I did get for the Essentials pricing at the time. Certainly hoping the prices shown on the website as examples are valid as they are reasonable and not much more than using an independent with genuine Lexus parts.

Essentials Maintenance on Lexus website for IS250 list front shock absorber at £325 and rear at £295 (that's parts and fitted all in at Lexus) - I thought that was quite reasonable.

If it still has Extended Warranty running and / or you wanted to retain the 10 Year Plus Warranty it would have to be serviced by a Lexus dealer.

For the tyre pressure I've had similar in the past. Found that it was the valve stem not seating right after inflation. First of all take the dust cap off and with a bit of spittle form a bubble over the valve and see if any air is coming out. If it is (and even if you don't see any air coming out this is worth a try) first pump over the running pressure and the let a good amount of air out to try and clear any rubbish from around the valve - also try "flicking" the valve open a number of time so it seals shut quickly - I have found this has cured a couple of small valve leaks in the past.

Had a UX courtesy car a couple of years ago and it was raining and quite dirty on the roads with large puddles. Kept getting warning messages popping up about the front parking sensors not working on and off most of the day!

Yes LC is even more a niche but that's a car I would make more compromises for... Maybe one day...

Yes I think that's a reasonable viewpoint. The RC and IS are targeted at different people. I liked the look of the RC but just not practical for what I needed - the IS was the car that fit my requirements and lifestyle. I think buyers looking at an RC do have different requirements / demands of the car which the 300h drive train doesn't deliver against for many of them - it was a shame that they didn't drop a bigger engine or the 450h drive train in the RC - there is always the LC which is starting to get down in price now?

Everyone to their own - you have tested the car and found that it doesn't fit your needs which is all well and good. You probably need to be in a higher engined BMW coupe to get the feeling you are looking for. Just as a reference, I came from the larger engined BMW 6 cylinder cars to the IS 300h. Although I do a decent mileage in my cars I wasn't really using the BMWs for how they were designed - too many road restrictions, speed cameras and traffic jams these days. I had a full day test drive with an IS 300h and it ticked all the right boxes for me as a car to be used for every day travel - relaxing, quiet, very comfortable for long days behind the wheel, decent handling and to be honest plenty enough power for today's traffic unless you want to be overtaking everything in front of you at every opportunity. I came back from the days test drive and bought a 2 year old IS 300h the next day. I've had it for over 5 years now and have put nearly 80K miles on it myself and have never regretted buying it in all that time, nor missed the BMWs I had in the past. As an every day car in normal driving (not a weekend blast) in town or on the motorway it really is hard to beat. On fuel consumption by the way - over the 80K miles I have not reset the trip and I have achieved a 48mpg average - a good proportion of that motorway miles at a decent pace (I have to be where I need to be at particular times so don't get that much chance to drive particularly economically). The hybrid drive train doesn't suit everyone - it's probably the 80/20 rule. If you are in the 20 that is looking for a more out and out sporting car experience doing more limited mileage probably need to look elsewhere. For everyday longer distances and higher mileage it does a lot of things very well.

In my case my car was also bought new by it's previous owner from my local dealer and then sold back to them from where I purchased it, which I felt was a valuable (though not essential) additional plus - and I also now have it maintained at the same dealer. It's certainly worth a look at your other local dealer - I live in Berkshire but there may be others on here with experience of your local dealers who if you are happy to mention who they are may be able to add some comments. As for trim levels, yes definitely easier than some brands to understand although there were additional options for each trim available and of course what was included in each trim level changed over the years too.

Prices for servicing are listed on the Lexus website and so easy to see if the dealer is sticking to that or charging differently.

Before my Lexus (which I use the Lexus breakdown cover for) I used GEM www.motoringassist.com - never had to call them out though so can't comment on how good they are when actually called on.

Many thanks for your detailed write up and if I had those same issues I would certainly share your frustrations - however, my experiences are very different from your own. I purchased my 2014 IS 300h when it was 2 years old with 40K miles on the clock from my local Lexus dealer. I still have the car and it now has 114K miles on it. I am quite fussy about a lot of things on my cars although I do use the car for business and personal and so do about 15K miles per annum so it doesn't get as well looked after as I would like and I do use the Lexus dealer for all work as that for me is the most convenient for me. I have no issue with all the services that my Lexus dealer has done and I do take a service plan which is a simple way to spread the service costs over a couple of years, but there isn't any real saving (other than the prices being fixed when it's taken out). I agree that the "150 point safety check" is probably more a sales tool than anything of great value - as Lexus used cars have a Used Car Warranty though then any faults found they should rectify promptly so the "safety check" isn't something I took much notice of but you should not have the unresolved issues you have experienced - they should have been dealt with. On the brakes, mine have never had a problem - I had front discs and pads changed at 80K miles (as I had wheel bearings replaced under Extended Warranty) but they were still working fine just normal wear. Noisy brakes (do you mean some squealing?) is usually due to pads not being seated correctly - but should be readily resolved. If they were in such a state (with the seized parking brake) then Lexus should certainly have rectified that as part of their Used Car Warranty. Equally the steering issue should not happen - other than in cold weather when it is true the tyres can "skip" on full lock causing a banging noise (like running over a stone), but this is normal for many cars. I have never had any vibration that you mention, other than if the tyres had an imbalance sometimes towards the end of their life, but that is easily identified and rectified so if it's been checked I can't see it being that. There was some reports of transmission vibrations at around 50mph in a small number of cars - I have never noticed it in mine, but there was a fix for those that had it where a small damper was fitted on the transmission and I think some sort of software fix as well - if you do a search in this forum you should find the threads - they were a few years ago. It could possibly be what you are experiencing. The rear passenger ventilation is controlled by a switch on the dashboard (top left) - known as S-Flow. If S-Flow is off (not lit) then the rear passengers will receive ventilation (the centre vents will work) but if S-Flow is on (lit) then the air flow to the rear is stopped (so no air will come through the centre vents). It's to do with economy - if you don't have any rear passengers saves heating/cooling the rear of the car so much. It is a bit confusing though - took me a few times reading that part in the manual to understand it. I don't find noise any more intrusive at 70mph than previous cars I've owned (BMWs, Mercedes, Hondas, Fords to name a few) but tyre choice can play a big part in this - and in my experience noise increases as tyres (any tyres) start and reach end of life. New tyres always makes the car a lot quieter! Also I don't have any undue issues with the feedback through the steering - certainly no more or less than many other cars. I do wonder if you have some suspension/geometry issues there still? Agreed on the battery - never use Aux - just start the car in Ready mode (leave in P, never N) and let it do what it wants otherwise there is a real risk of flattening the 12V battery as it is on the small side. This seems to be common to some other hybrid cars too. That said my car is still on it's original 12V battery and I've had no issues to date but do carry one of the glove box Li Ion jump start packs just in case! I don't have the speed restrictions camera on mine, but when I had a courtesy car with it I didn't find it that good and certainly don't miss not having it. My wife has it on her Toyota and it is a bit hit and miss - I'm not a big fan of too much tech as just more to go wrong. Apologies for rambling on a bit, but you don't seem to have anything like the positive experience I have had with my own car and others have had. Yes, there may be some Lexus idiosyncrasies in there (took me a while to get to know my car) but the biggest issue does seem to lie at the door of your local dealer. Certainly some of the issues you have described should have been dealt with straight after purchase by your Lexus dealer under the Used Car Warranty and you should be able to have confidence that they will do a professional job on the servicing according to the schedules laid out. What should you do next? Personally if you feel you want to try another Lexus I would definitely change to a different dealership (assuming that there is one within a sensible distance for you) - you may have a different (hopefully a lot better) experience. In my experience, all brands have their good and bad dealers though - when I had my first BMWs I went through about four different dealerships that were shocking until I found one that was excellent - bought a number of BMWs through that dealer and always serviced the cars there - they just did everything right. At the moment I have found the same at my local Lexus dealer. If I have any issues I can discuss it with the service desk - if that starts to become complicated or the issue is difficult to pinpoint then they offer to have a tech come out with the customer so that they can understand the issue properly face-to-face in the car which definitely helps speed up diagnosis. It doesn't sound like your dealer went down this route for you. Hope that you are able to find a more positive experience one way or another - it's a shame that a few of the dealers seem to be damaging the brand that Lexus have built.

I'm still going to the Lexus dealer - my IS 300h is now over 7 years old and 114K miles. Personally I'm happy with the services they provide and the communications I have with them regards any issues and so plan to continue using them. If I wasn't happy I would look to change though and it's a shame that some Lexus dealerships appear to be letting the brand down.

There is a good chance it will be a write off unfortunately as the pop up hood replacement costs are quite high as are many of the other parts you mention. As a rule of thumb if the estimated repair cost is more than about 60% of the replacement cost of a like for like car the insurance companies tend to write off as it's easier for them than managing the repair and having other issues crop up. A few years ago I hit a tyre that had come off a lorry on the motorway - I didn't think the damage was all that bad - other than the bumper there was no actual bodywork damage but quite a bit of damage on one side behind the bumper. The haulage company took responsibility for it fortunately and I took my IS 300h to Lexus for repair and the final bill to the 3rd party insurance company was over £13,000 - another £1,000 or so and Lexus told me it would have been written off (a like for like replacement at the time would have been about £17K). I would prepare now by looking at the cost to replace your car like for like. With the costs of second hand cars having gone up so much you need to make sure you don't get fobbed off with a low write off offer - negotiate hard if you are not happy with the offer using some factual information on what the same cars are selling for, especially as it wasn't your fault.

What other issues do you still have? Maybe someone on here has some experience or can shed some light. Sounds like you have had a difficult relationship with your dealer which is a shame as the battery issue should have been resolved quickly. Personally I have no issues with my local dealer and have spoken with not only service desk but directly with the techs who seem happy to discuss issues with customers.

David covered this on a previous post - mid-last year after getting the car his 12V battery let him down a number of times - he finally had it changed (by the dealer I believe) and all I think was well after that. So not really five different faults just the one (that we know others have had when the car hasn't been used for some time) and resolved quite simply in the end. If there are other faults hopefully David will let us know in due course.

And you can also continue after the Relax comes to an end with a paid for annual Lexus 10 Year Plus Extended Warranty (around £500 to £600 per annum depending on model and this includes the Lexus roadside assistance package too worth £125 of it) for up to 15 years old / 150k miles (whichever comes first) but you do need to have the car serviced by Lexus.

It's for the press journalists...

I can see to some extent where you are coming from as I had a grandfather who never ever took an insurance policy out in his life he did not have to other than by law (and that included on his house) - I believe the only policy he had was the minimum legal requirement on his cars. And of course insurance did not get you where you are today and neither did it me or anyone else. I'm also not a big advocate for a lot of insurance but I am in a reasonable fortunate financial position. My view is that I insure what I can not afford to easily or quickly replace should it fail etc. That includes my house (buildings and content), cars and yacht - not just because it's a stipulation or legal requirement but because losing those would leave me in a difficult personal or financial situation should the worst happen (or a simply unnecessary position given the relatively small premiums involved). Likewise I insure myself against medical expenses when I travel abroad, especially to the USA as that again could be ruinous (at least for me) should I need extensive treatment, and I also have some life insurance to provide for my family in case of my untimely demise. I choose the Extended Warranty (insurance) on my Lexus as cars do go wrong (I have now made two claims) and although I could have afforded those repairs, should a major component fail (and there are potential repairs that could be many thousands of pounds) it may leave me in a difficult (if not unsurmountable) financial position for a while. However, I personally draw the line at insuring for example my heating system, mobile phones etc. (other than what might be included in my house building/contents insurance) although I appreciate others like to have such items insured. The level of acceptable risk is different for everyone and if you have the financial means to weather all of the storms that life throws at you then that is all well and good. But for those who do not, or indeed choose to offload some of that risk to an insurance company, then that is personal choice too and there is certainly nothing wrong in selecting what works for each of our own personal circumstances and which gives us our own peace of mind and lets us get on with our life without undue worry.

Yes I have family working for the MOD and was told they do too

My company used to self insure their cars so it's certainly possible in some cases - they found it cheaper overall than paying insurance premiums for the whole fleet - I would think other organisations do the same. And there's always 3rd party only insurance of course (though not always significantly cheaper than fully comp for the average run of the mill car).

Could just be coincidence or a manufacturing fault in the bulb you replaced - on a previous car I had a similar issue after replacing a halogen bulb - just put it down to a poor bulb - next ones lasts just fine - halogen bulbs aren't that expensive so I'd replace again with a respected brand (like Osram or Philips) and see how they last before looking for something that might not exist. As others have said the "extra bright" bulbs do last considerably less time.

That's true and why I also have the 10 Year Plus Extended Warranty now - will see me through to 15 years / 150K miles - I know there is some contention as to whether this is worth it but personally I see it as peace of mind for a relatively small sum of money should one of those rather expensive components need replacement. An option for the OP after the Relax option expires.

But you can then renew (and pay for of course) for another 10K miles once that point is reached as many times as you want in a year.

That is correct - I do more than 10k miles per annum and each service (my car is serviced with Lexus) comes with a new hybrid health check valid for the next 10k miles or 12 months whichever occurs first. If the car isn't serviced by Lexus then the hybrid health check would need to be done by Lexus (and paid for) every 10K miles or 12 months whichever occurs first.